Charlotte.com

July 05, 2008

Favre rumor news to Panthers GM

If Brett Favre wants to un-retire from football and play for the Carolina Panthers, that's news to Panthers general manager Marty Hurney.

"I don't know where these things come from," Hurney said of an Internet report earlier this week about agent Bus Cook saying Favre, who retired from the Green Bay Packers three months ago, has decided he already wants to return to the game, specifically with Carolina.

Hurney declined any further comment.

Favre has hinted recently that he might be interested in coming out of retirement, if the football bug bites him when training camp starts. The Los Angeles Times, without citing any sources, reported Friday that Favre could resurface with Tampa Bay, Carolina, Chicago or Minnesota.

But Favre also told The (Biloxi, Miss.) Sun Herald, "It's all rumors."

The Panthers' starting quarterback job is set with Jake Delhomme, although he is coming off elbow surgery. Undrafted Matt Moore and Brett Basanez will likely be Delhomme's backups. -- David Scott

Comments

wow, and I totally expected Hurney say that the reports were true and the team was looking into signing or trading for Favre within the next few weeks.

Posted by: matt | Jul 5, 2008 11:05:23 AM

are you ready for some football

Posted by: Local | Jul 5, 2008 11:44:48 AM

All a bunch of nonsense. Even if Favre does unretire he won't be playing for the Panthers. Barring a freak setback to Jake Delhomme, I don't see any reason why the Panthers would take interest. These rumors probably just got started based on teams who have quarterback issues and the fact that the Packers are already moving on without Favre in their plans.

Posted by: Christian | Jul 5, 2008 12:47:01 PM

Let's just say for the sake of argument that this is all real, I know it's a stretch, but humor me....

Would the Panthers have to work out a trade with the Packers for Favre's rights, or did the "official retirement" negate any rights the Packers may have had on him?

Posted by: bboryla | Jul 5, 2008 1:42:21 PM

Let's just say for the sake of argument that this is all real, I know it's a stretch, but humor me....

Would the Panthers have to work out a trade with the Packers for Favre's rights, or did the "official retirement" negate any rights the Packers may have had on him?

Posted by: bboryla | Jul 5, 2008 1:42:26 PM

TB would seem like a strange destination since they already have a short-term QB answer in Jeff Garcia who's already pissed off about not getting a contract extension. Unless they could move him, I doubt even Gruden's QB fetish would get Favre in there. Minnesota and Chicago would also be strange picks from the standpoint of him staying in Green Bay's division. But, like I said earlier, I wouldn't bring him on board in Charlotte unless and until Jake goes down with a long-term injury.

Posted by: Michael Procton | Jul 5, 2008 2:31:07 PM

bb, here's the process...Favre submits unretirement papers to the NFL and the Packers. The Packers then have a few days to choose whether to activate him (because he IS still under contract for the next three years at about $13 mil/yr., which is a lot of money; Delhomme's getting about $4.5 mil the next two years) or to release him outright. If the Packers activated him, they'd have to free up a roster spot, and could explore trading him. However, they may not want to squeeze his salary in at all or send a mixed message to the team or Aaron Rogers, which is why they'd go with the outright release. One drawback of this, though, is that they couldn't control where he ended up, so he might end up coming back to bite them in Chicago or Minnesota.

The rumor that I heard was he was interested in playing with us because it was "close to home". Well correct me if im wrong but isn't New Orleans even closer? Atlanta is closer than we are........

Posted by: Dustin | Jul 5, 2008 9:44:16 PM

Richardson won't part with enough money? He overpays all the time for people that don't even get the job done. What are you talking about?

Posted by: Craig | Jul 5, 2008 9:44:20 PM

Ha, Brad! Thats right! Matt Moore is the savior of our franchise! Where is Dameyeune Craig, I bet you were a big fan of his too! HA!

Posted by: Craig | Jul 5, 2008 9:45:44 PM

No, Paul, they didn't. This was a very specific rumor, in which his agent said that he specifically wanted to come to Carolina.

Bruce, you're stupid. The Panthers are right against the cap every year. The only people who would say it doesn't work are Hurney and the cap guys. $13 mil is a lot to fit under the cap, particularly if we're going to keep Jake as a $4.5 mil backup.

And Dustin...Charlotte certainly is closer to MS than Green Bay, WI, and he's got a daughter who goes to CofCharleston, which is closer than even Atlanta. In addition, New Orleans is pretty set at QB with Brees (we are too, but durability is a concern with Delhomme in a way that doesn't exist with Brees) and Atlanta's not going to compete with or without Favre, so he doesn't want to waste his last few years in a dead-end situation. If he's convinced that: a. He'd get a chance to compete with Jake and b. he'd beat him out, this would probably be the most logical choice outside of Minnesota or Chicago, which he might not like because he'd have to play GB twice either way.

Posted by: Michael Procton | Jul 6, 2008 12:24:11 AM

Excuse me but who in the world said jake is making 4.5 mill next year?? or next two years....jake makes about 8 MILL!!! a year

Posted by: cheven | Jul 6, 2008 1:17:32 AM

Don't know where you're getting your numbers from, but he restructured his contract last year: $3.69 mil in '08, 5.325 in '09.

Posted by: Michael Procton | Jul 6, 2008 2:10:02 AM

DUDE...IF FAVRE GAVE THE PANTHERS THE PRIVILEGE OF PLAYING WITH THEM....u hicks should rejoice...delhomme is weak...steve smith needs a qb

Posted by: dusan | Jul 6, 2008 4:45:17 AM

Better to have Farve than Hurney...

Posted by: m | Jul 6, 2008 8:31:21 AM

I thought Hurney had more sense than to even comment on something so silly. Now he looks like an idiot also. But then again, looking at the past drafts..he very well may be an idiot.